Effect of Perceived Effort on Social Identity in Team Sport

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Group dynamics influences performance and well-being in team sports.While social identity has been linked to motivation and effort perception, little is known about the reverse effect of perceived effort on social identity.This study explored whether a higher perception of effort would be associated with lower social identity ratings, operationalized through ingroup ties, cognitive centrality, and ingroup affect.Twenty-two elite youth athletes (Mage = 15.41,SD = 0.80) completed a cycling task with a progressive load, during which social identity and perceived effort were repeatedly assessed.Linear mixed models indicated that perceived effort significantly predicted ingroup ties ( = 0.006, p = 0.026), but not cognitive centrality or ingroup affect (ps > 0.05).These results suggest that, contrary to our hypothesis, increasing effort perception may strengthen interpersonal bonds within the group rather than diminish social identity.This finding aligns with theories of social identity salience and suggests that shared physical exertion could enhance group functioning.Future research should explore how team presence moderates these effects and examine alternative mechanisms linking effort perception and social identity.